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Synopsis

Alejandro Jodorowsky stars as The Alchemist in The Holy Mountain —apt self-casting in this psychedelic masterpiece about Jesus searching for enlightenment. Fusing together many of his previously investigated themes, Holy Mountain catalogues a religious icon’s surreal journey through magical realms that both mirror reality and verge on the psychotic Financed entirely by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Holy Mountain is a more associative, more abstract, and better version of El Topo, which also features a protagonist searching for his soul. In Holy Mountain, Jesus encounters seven magicians who represent each planet, who then converge under the tutelage of The Alchemist to prepare for their life-threatening climb up a sacred hill. Completely original in its blend of Mexican magical surrealism and peace-inducing, humorous commentary on Latin American colonialism and the idiocy of war, Holy Mountain is one of the most outlandish examples of avant-garde filmmaking. Wonderfully colorful sets, zany characters in costumes straight out of the subconscious, and an inspired soundtrack, reinforce this absurdist statement about death and rebirth. Though Jodorowsky purportedly deprived himself of sleep to study Zen as research for the film, this is no flowery hippie movie. Carcasses, skinned animals, and even a scene showing frogs and toads dressed as Aztecs and Conquistators who fight until the bloody death, will make a viewer’s skin crawl. After being mesmerized by such a powerful vision, the ending, in which Jodorowsky reminds us that “reality awaits,” is easily the most bizarre part. —Trinie Dalton

Director

Original

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Born in 1929 in Chile to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Jodorowsky eventually enrolled at the University of Santiago, where he developed an interest in puppetry and mime. After creating a theater company that employed 60 people, Jodorowsky departed for Paris.Once in Paris he began a lengthy collaboration with Marcel Marceau, collaborating on some of his most famous mimeograms. For the next few years, Jodorowsky would alternate between working in Mexico City and in Paris, developing his interest in the avant-garde and staging the playwrights who would be major influences on his film career, including Samuel Beckett, Ionesco, August Strindberg, and the surrealists. Especially, Theater of Cruelty champion Antonin Artaud and Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal. By the mid-‘60s, the Panic Movement began and theatrical events designed to be shocking; one four-hour ephemera starred a leather-clad Jodorowsky and featured the slaughter of geese, naked women covered in honey, a crucified chicken… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 58 wall posts.
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Matt Turner

31Jan12

Imaginative, continually mesmerizing and will probably be hard to forget. Quite what all that symbolism meant though, I could not even begin to guess, but it makes for a unique spectacle.

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Man6

25Jan12

Hepped Up on Goofballs

Picture of Gran-Hoff

Gran-Hoff

14Jan12

Pretty imagetic, a constant flow of stimulating colors and symbols. Presenting some harsh critisism on imperialist behavior and religion, 'the holy mountain' brings a kind of politic surrealism that adds to the whole film, in my opinion, more than those which by being very subjective and hermetic ends up keeping a somewhat distant relationship with its audience.

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Mohamad Takdir

19Dec11

I watch it twice and still amazed.

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Untitled

By David Sammon on November 24, 2009

A stunning entry in the oeuvre of director Alejandro Jodorowsky, and speaking personally; his magnum opus. The film defies classification by conventional standards but may be called a surrealist film…  read review

Untitled

By timotay​o on September 6, 2009

okay. I had seen this before a while ago when it was newly restored and apparently that retro-spective opened alot of eyes on what was thought to be nothing more than a trashy-crazy art film: grainy…  read review

Untitled

By Ryan Estabro​oks on April 4, 2009

A truly mind expanding movie. I highly recommend being in an “altered state” when first watching it in order to truly comprehend everything you see. If you’re sober then it won’t make as much sense…  read review

Forum

Displaying 4 discussion topics.

Trippy/Psychedelic Films - Name some!

110 posts by 71 people 2 months ago

Which Alejandro Jodorowsky to start with?

32 posts by 22 people 10 months ago

Official Thread For New Screenshots for Holy Mountain

5 posts by 3 people over 1 year ago

Holy Mountain

5 posts by 3 people almost 3 years ago